Shigaraki drummed his fingers as he awaited his test results from Garaki.
Yearly check ups unfortunately were more necessary since that bumbling fool smashed his face in than ever before.
It was important after all to know whether or not he needed to send his people to round up more fresh bodies for him to put his excess into until he was in need of it again.
A rather tiresome necessity but he still had plans for this body and would like to hold onto it for another year or two, the cost for maintaining it however was growing ever the more costly when he could just use his quirk to fix it but his sorry state made Tomura much easier to manipulate so it was a somewhat fair trade off at the moment.
That did not mean he quite liked being forced to rely on the humming machinery attached to himself, it was quite limiting and he'd greatly prefer not to be bound to them, but the blonde idiot still didn't seem to be any closer to picking a successor.
Something that was beyond moronic given how little time he had left, but what else would he expect from someone quirkless? They rarely had the common sense to realize when the jig was up for them.
Perhaps though, it was because the blonde thought he was truly dead? Shigaraki could certainly see the idiot being so foolishly sentimental as to take his brother's quirk to the grave with him to 'honor' that pathetic woman.
In which case he would need to do something to change the idiot's mind, he couldn't take regular quirks from the dead, much less his brother's stubborn quirk.
But what would be the best way to go about it? He could drop some hints of having faked his death... no that would just send the fool to his shallow grave faster, the bug wouldn't be willing to share the glory of defeating him with anyone, the prideful idiot.
A more psychological route than, the one question would be how to do it then.
He certainly had the quirks to do it but which of the many darlings would he use on the fool?
He couldn't use Mind palace and Retrofit as he had with Tomura, the hair color change would be too obvious and impossible to explain away, not to mention it wouldn't be as much help to him in making the man give up his brother's quirk.
He had already tried that on the sixth pest only for the bugger to break out almost right away and nearly cave his chest in fully, which was unfortunate that he had to dispose of a body so soon.
"Master, the results are back." Garaki called and Shigaraki hummed in response, unbothered at being interrupted as it was an alright place to stop, and he could consult what the 'good' doctor thought of the matter.
"Ah, Doctor I've got a question I'd like you to answer first." he informed the man.
"Ah, of course Master, whatever you wish to ask me I shall answer to the best of my abilities!" Garaki replied and Shigaraki liked to think the man straightened himself up, fussing with a tie and holding a clipboard.
Remaining blind for the time being was another rather bothersome thing he'd have to put up with until the blonde idiot finally took a successor.
"I've been thinking about how my brother's latest pet has been so stubborn... perhaps he feels no need to pass on to another now that his goal of spiting me has been accomplished." he said and he wished he could see just how Garaki reacted to the news, he quite sure it would be a little entertaining, the man had such an expressive face at times.
"Oh sir that truly would be a problem, what should we do about it Master?" Garaki questioned immediately looking to him for answers.
Shigaraki hummed letting his head tilt to the side, there were times like this where he could remember why he kept the doctor on, because unlike many of his people Garaki didn't need to be swayed to his side besides promising the doctor as many subjects for his experiments as the man wanted.
The man was so pathetically devoted to him he sacrificed his son and the rest of his family to his whims for his research, grandchildren and all.
"Well I was thinking of using a more tactful approach this time around, being so blunt can be tiring in my current state... tell me, are any of the Nomu equipped with a subtle compulsion quirk of mine?" he inquired.
Garaki hummed, likely rubbing his chin much like he mentally pictured "A few but given what you're asking for Master, I don't think they would be much use for your purpose you want them for, they're much too large and noticeable for stealth." Garaki explained.
"Pity." he commented "Could you tell me of which quirks they have? I can allow you to copy them again for another Nomu which could along with some stealth quirks." he offered.
"Of course Master, I shall make a list of the most useful." Garaki promised and Shigaraki heard the man mess with some papers "Now then, about your results Master." Garaki brought back up and he supposed he should get back to them.
"Naturally Doctor." he replied motioning for the man to go on.
"Well your body hasn't deteriorated any more than it already was from the damage inflicted it by that foolish boy, however the stain of the quirks you hold still won't allow your healing quirks to fully repair the damage, I'd give this body another five years before it would collapse upon itself." Garaki explained.
"The number of quirks you have won't kill you immediately but I also wouldn't advise taking any more than ten more quirks if you can avoid it, the stain would likely be enough to stop the body's heart Master. Unless you use that lucky little find you got so long ago you will also remain as you are, but after three years you'll likely lose function of the body's legs." Garaki further elaborated.
Shigaraki allowed himself to sigh, it was more or less exactly what he expected to hear from Garaki, his brother's recent and longest-lived pet had managed to do some damage to his body, as detestable as it was he had to give the insect a minuscule about of credit for harming him so permanently with his bare hands and just his brother's quirk.
"Master, if I may be so crass. I don't understand why you don't overtake the boy and simply pretend to act as if you are the boy, you've done so before and severely doubt that the foolish child would ever know any difference." Garaki argued to him.
Shigaraki shook his head, all too familiar with the argument, it happened almost every time his body would get so damaged and admittedly he'd wouldn't argue with him over it normally and once he'd got the proper supplies he'd used his quirk and be right as rain.
"I could... but it wouldn't nearly be as satisfying as dangling such a thing as the prospect of saving the only living connection he has to that pathetic wench in front the fool before I take it all away from him." he answered letting his head fall into one of his hands.
He was a rather petty beast when he wanted to be, and oh did he want to spite that bitch who hadn't just denied him like all of his brother's other pets but had dared to give his brother's quirk over to a quirkless person.
So no, no it was not enough to just to leave the hollow man she desired after in such a disgusting way as hollow as he truly was in the bed they shared.
Nor was it enough to use her bastard child's own empty child to slaughter all that was left of her ilk.
No, even if his brother's quirkless loving bitch had long been dead for nearly fifty years he would still spite her even further by making the damned quirkless boy she gave the last bit of his brother regret every day he still held on to his brother when there were people far more deserving to house him.
Shigaraki reclined and let out a sigh, it wouldn't do him well to wallow in his anger given the state of his body, his body simply wouldn't handle the stress of it from what Garaki had explained.
He mentally fluttered his eyes when one of Garaki's Nomu approached, it was hard to miss them as he could feel each bundle of quirks was so very distinct from a normal person's signature, but it was a small one judging from how the six were so tightly forced together.
"Ah, there you are little Tessy, you must've found something if you're here." Garaki commented clapping his hands and the Nomu must've gone into his arms "Now lets see what you've found... Ah! Oh you clever girl Tess you- ah, that is... unexpected." Garaki cooed before trailing off.
"What did Tess find Doctor?" he inquired curious as to what could've caused such a dour reaction.
Garaki hesitated for a moment but he ultimately knew better than to deny him.
"Tess has... discovered the identity of Deku-Sensei Master." Garaki said.
Shigaraki couldn't help smiling "Ah, well don't keep me in suspense Doctor." he encouraged with a 'come here' motion.
Garaki once again fell silent taking even more time before he answered, taking a deep breath before he spoke.
"Deku-Sensei, is a young boy named: Midoriya Izuku." Garaki told him making him frown.
He knew that name from somewhere, he couldn't place from where, one of the draw backs of living for so long was how easy it was for names and faces to blur in his memory unless they were gravely important, not having the eyes to see was certainly not helping him to recall.
"Hm, that name is faintly familiar though I seem to be having trouble truly recalling where I've heard that name before." he mused.
Not for the first time he considered taking back one of the quirks that allowed him to grow eyes on other parts of him or through the eyes of another as Garaki fell quiet for a third time.
"Doctor?" he questioned miming a raised eye in his head and Garaki swallowed thickly.
"Midoriya, was one of the subjects considered for later extraction and experimentation after I discovered he was quirkless... back in 2364. You... rejected him as a candidate for becoming a Nomu Master." Garaki delicately explained until there was a loud crunch from his crushing one of his armrests.
All at once he remembered exactly where he knew that name from.
The image of young venomously familiar young boy staring back at him with a smile he refused to admit made his heart twinged.
He was almost certain that day that there was some vengeful being out there watching him, he had even at one point thought he'd been insane as he saw that damn photo.
But eventually he understood that it was nothing short of some sick cosmic joke that the child named Midoriya Izuku could've been Shigaraki Yoichi's identical twin in another life.
One of his quirks gave him perfect recall so no matter how much his logical mind wanted to argue he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Midoriya's face matched one-to-one to Yoichi's, same face shape, same chin, same lips, same button nose their mother had…
He even had the same fucking four black freckles on each cheek before his quirk drained all the color from Yoichi as it slowly killed him from the inside out.
The accursed boy even had the same bright-looking green eyes that made him so uncomfortable to gaze upon and messy hair only their mother could tame was on the boy's head.
It was only the boy's dark green hair that set him apart from his brother... that and the fact that the boy was genuinely quirkless unlike Yoichi.
And as it turned out the boy truly was his brother's twin as he too worked to tear everything he'd worked so hard to build to the ground.
Perhaps for the same reason as to save people from his clutches.
Even his name was proof of the absolutely inane idea that this child was the second coming of his brother.
Green was Yoichi's favorite color.
Shigaraki had never once entertained the idea of fate or gods, but something deep inside he never felt once before in his three centuries of living made him uneasy as he stared at the boy's picture when he saw it... one that made him refuse to turn the boy into one of his Nomu at the time.
He'd come up with some excuse for the doctor as to why the boy wouldn't be a good candidate for becoming a Nomu at the time because he didn't want to know if this Midoriya's voice would also sound like his brother's.
That was clearly a mistake, and his brother's twin was making it his god given mission to make his life hell for all that he 'wronged' Yoichi and each of his brother's pets.
Shigaraki took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He could not allow himself to get so worked up over a boy that happened to look like his brother and needed to deal with the problem the pest was making.
"I... remember now Doctor." he told Garaki through clenched teeth.
"Master-" Garaki tried to speak but he held up his hand silencing Garaki.
"Doctor, how hard would it be to quietly extract Midoriya?" he questioned.
"Considering he's the topic of debate for the last two days as U.A's first quirkless staff member and in the middle of a major controversy? Near impossible, Master." Garaki ruefully informed.
Shigaraki shook his head with a disbelieving huff.
Just another thing to connect the two... Yoichi had ran from his grasp by joining someone with a scarred face, Nezu was an animal of course but he was close enough.
He did always call his brother's first pet a thieving weasel.
Imagine if you will, baby tot Izuku standing T-pose over AFO just being a little cherub while this man is sprialing